Tears of Pain
by Hiril Moon
Summary: My September 11th fic. When it happened, Tai and Mimi's Dad's were killed. Mimi did the natural thing cry but Tai froze inside. One year later, can Mimi break through to him?


Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, do you seriously think I'd be writing Digimon fics? Nope, I'd be making my series 4 REAL. (Goes into daydream of watching Steve and Mike fighting on TV) Hmm.. Hey, that reminds me, only one person's reviewed my series. WHY? (Pause) Oh, yeah, I haven't actually SAID that I don't own Digimon. So.. I DON'T OWN DIGIMON! AND DITTO FOR POKÉMON!!!  
  
(Lady Moon and her muses are dressed in black) Lady Moon: I'm writing this fic in memory of the people who died on September 11th last year. It's dedicated to all the people who were affected by the disaster.  
  
Digimon Empress Mimi: Wow. That was.. deep.  
  
Batpig: Yeah. Do you think she's OK?  
  
LM: ANYWAY, this is also a Tai/Mimi FRIENDSHIP fic. No romance intended. I hope this helps people who were untouched to realise how major the effects were.  
  
Batpig: But, you're English. You weren't effected.  
  
LM: My Dad was on a plane that day. I was nearly effected. Thankfully, his wasn't hijacked.  
  
DEM: (Wipes away tear) Can we please finish this before I break down?  
  
Tears of Pain  
  
Mimi felt a tear roll down her cheek as she looked at the gravestone. It was four o'clock in the morning, and still dark. She's come early so that she could cry alone. Soon, people would arrive for the memorial service.  
  
It was September 11th. A year since the terrorists crashed the planes into the Twin Towers. A year since thousands were killed.  
  
"A year since my dad died," Mimi thought. She ran her finger around the inscription on the gravestone:  
  
In loving memory of Li Tachikawa  
  
1964-2001  
  
Killed in the Terrorist Attack on the World Trade Centre  
  
Missed by wife and daughter  
  
R.I.P.  
  
He was dead. Her dad was dead. He had gone to work, just like every other day. He'd worked on the forty-third floor of the second tower to be hit.  
  
It had felt like a nightmare when the first tower had been hit.  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
~ Mimi was battling with her Algebra. As usual, her teacher had told them to do about two and a half pages of work in forty minutes. Next to her, her best friend Jessie was glancing out of the window, probably thinking about a song idea. She wanted to be a lyricist when she grew up.  
  
Suddenly, Jessie stiffened, "That plane's flying low. If it's not careful, it's going to crash."  
  
Mimi glanced over her friend's shoulder, then stared. A plane WAS flying low. As she stared, it crashed into one of the Twin Towers.  
  
She and Jessie screamed. As the rest of the class looked up, they jumped to their feet, staring and screaming. Gerald, who was sitting next to another window, told everyone what was happening, "A PLANE'S CRASHED INTO ONE OF THE TWIN TOWERS!" ~  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
"I was so worried about my father," Mimi thought, "I knew he was in the other tower, but I wasn't convinced that one would be safe."  
  
She had been right.  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
~ She was staring out of the window at the tower. Fire was flickering out of the hole, and the smoke surrounded the top of the building.  
  
Her throat felt dry, as she stared at the other tower, "Please let it be safe," she prayed.  
  
However, God had had other ideas. As she stared in terror, another plane crashed into her dad's tower.  
  
She thought she would scream, but somehow, she couldn't. She stared, and a tear fell down her cheek.  
  
"Dad," she whispered. ~  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
The gravestone's message became blurred as the tears fell. She didn't try to stop them. Her tears were about the only things which could show her pain. She let her tears continue to fall. Her tears of pain..  
  
*************************************************************************  
  
Tai sighed as Kari wept. It was, in a way, easier for his younger sister. She could cry her pain away.  
  
"My pain's still there," he thought, "I can't cry it away. I can't remember the last time I cried. I can't remember the last time I laughed. I've sealed my emotions away ever since the attack."  
  
He looked away. It was. painful seeing Kari crying whilst he wasn't. It made him feel guilty.  
  
"After all," he thought, "I didn't cry when I found out."  
  
His dad had been checking out a new job in one of the towers. That was the last time they saw him. He had been in the first to be hit. He didn't have enough time to call, or even scream in terror.  
  
Terror. That was his name for the `accident`. `The Twin Terrors`.  
  
But it wasn't terror that had struck him first. It was pain. Now he was suspended in a universe of pain. He's been there ever since he found out..  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
~ Tai sighed. It was another twenty minutes before Pokémon finished, and he could get to the TV. Every day it was the same: Come home, wait for Kari to finish watching the latest episode, then grab the TV before she got into something else.  
  
He frowned. It was too. quiet. He couldn't hear Kari's usual cries of "Poké Ball GO!" or "Pikachu, Thundershock!" or even "Prepare for trouble and make it double!"  
  
He glanced out of their bedroom (LM: he shares it with Kari, remember?), and saw Kari sitting outside the living room, crying. Miko was rubbing her head against his sister's knee, but she didn't seem to notice.  
  
"Kari?" he asked, "Are you OK?"  
  
She looked up at him through tear-filled eyes, then lowered her head and pointed into the living room. He walked over to the door and glanced round.  
  
He saw one of the Twin Towers collapsing, and another smoking in the background. He heard the newsreader saying, "Nearly everyone was killed." But none of it seemed to register.  
  
His Dad had been checking out a job in the tower that had collapsed. HIS DAD WAS DEAD.. ~  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
Then the weeks. months of pain had started. No emotion ever got through to him. His friends left him alone, after he yelled at them to `Get Out Of His Sight`. Matt was the closest he had to a friend now. They'd sometimes have chats, but Tai remained outside of the Keeper of Friendship's bubble.  
  
The only reason he hadn't lost Matt was because the blonde didn't keep trying to make him happy. He knew what Tai was feeling, and knew Tai would have to live with it, if he was going to survive. After all, he'd been through the darkness too.  
  
And Sora.. She's run off with some great Tennis Player. He made a face as he thought of her, "She's always going out with whoever's in fashion. She flirted with me in the Digiworld because I was the leader, she went out with Matt because he was so popular, with his band and everything, and now she's going out with What's-his-name, because every girl loves him. Slut."  
  
He looked down at Kari. She was still crying. He sighed, "Kari, I'm just going for a walk, OK?"  
  
She nodded, without looking up. As Tai walked away, he felt his pain increase. Kari didn't want to see him because he didn't seem to be affected. She'd accused him of being unfeeling. She was ashamed to be related to him, she'd said.  
  
"Kari, every time you say that, I become more unfeeling. The pain's blocking me off. As my sister, you're meant to help me, not hinder me," Tai thought.  
  
He looked ahead. The sky was getting lighter, and in the dim light, he could see a girl crouching over a tomb stone. That pink hair looked strangely familiar for some reason..  
  
Then he had it, "MIMI!"  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Mimi looked up in surprise when she heard him. Through tear-blurred eyes, she saw a brown-haired teenager running towards her. The fact that his hair practically defied gravity told her who he was, "TAI!"  
  
He stopped in front of her and bent over, panting. She stood up, "Tai, what are you doing here?"  
  
He looked up, and she flinched. His eyes looked dead, as if nothing existed behind them. No emotion, no.. ANYTHING. He straightened up.  
  
"Kari and I were just seeing Dad's gravestone. He was killed in the Twin Tower thing." Dead. He voice sounded dead, as he stated the facts, nothing else.  
  
"My Dad was killed too," she said, noting the amount of emotion in her voice compared to Tai's.  
  
He looked blankly at the gravestone of her father. As she looked at his unseeing eyes, Mimi felt fresh tears come. Not for her Dad; For Tai. "Mum said the only good thing about this was that I hadn't frozen up inside. I could still feel emotions, and everything."  
  
Tai looked up, and Mimi could tell he was surprised, even if he didn't show it. That meant her words meant something to him. He recognised what she was describing.  
  
"Tai..You're frozen. You can't feel anything, because you're in shock. In PAIN. I'm in pain too, but am I frozen? No. Tai, you don't have to be like this."  
  
"Mimi.. I know there's another way. But the way people are treating me, there's been too much pain to resist. The only way to cope is to not feel anything.. Well, apart from pain. Nothing can keep that out."  
  
Mimi stared at him. Then, realising nothing she said was going to help after how he'd been treated, she flung her arms around him, and buried her face in his chest, tears soaking his shirt. "He's lost," she thought, "Nothing I say is going to bring him back. Nothing."  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Tai looked down at the top of his friend's head. For a moment, he thought he heard her screaming out her pain, but the next, he thought he'd imagined it.  
  
"I'm causing pain, when I should be helping to make it better," he realised. Images flashed in front of his eyes. Agumon becoming SkullGreymon by mistake, Matt's accusations when they were fighting, Piedmon attacking him, Sora leaving him... Yes, he'd been through pain many times. But this time, he'd frozen.  
  
"It's just pain, Tai. You've defeated pain before. Well, you can do it again!" he thought, fists clenching. Without realising, during his thoughts, he'd responded to Mimi's hug, arms surrounding her. Then, as he heard her sobs, the best thing he'd ever felt or experienced happened.  
  
He cried. Tears falling from his eyes, a year of pain spilling out. He felt relief, and inwardly, he felt his ice melting. He smiled, "Thankyou, Mimi. Thankyou.."  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Mimi flinched as she felt her hair grow wet, "What's happening? Is it raining? But if it is, why is my hair the only thing getting wet?"  
  
Then she realised. She felt Tai's grip tighten, and could imagine the tears that were now falling. She smiled sadly, "You did it Tai. You beat the darkness.."  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
They both clung to each other, crying their tears of pain. Kari smiled as she saw her brother breaking free of his prison. Her tears fell too. The tears mixed with the earth, shining, creating puddles. Then, slowly, the sun rose..  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Lady Moon: @_@. Wow. That was.. Incredible. I had no idea I could write like that.  
  
Batpig: You don't know how you write?  
  
LM: My angst usually gets mixed up with other genres. This is the first time I've written something that was pure angst.  
  
Digimon Empress Mimi: I got a main part in a story that was finished! I'm so HAPPY! Normally stories by Lady that get finished are about Matt, or Tai, or her digidestined. Now I have a REAL part!  
  
LM: I killed your Dad.  
  
DEM: So? I am a Digimon Empress! Minors mean nothing! (Suddenly realises what she's saying) AAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!! What am I saying?  
  
Batpig: Oh no, not ANOTHER mental breakdown.  
  
LM: Looks like Mimi's having one of her Ken/Kaiser moments. So.. Not that many rants. ^_^;. Until our destinies cross again, watch out for the Devimon!  
  
Lady Moon 


End file.
